Sweet Chronicle of Swahili Coastal Norms 'Harusi ya Dogoli'

Book Review: Author Athumani Mauya

By Caroline Uliwa

As I finished the book, I wished the author was my history teacher back when I was in high school. Boy would I have lapped up anything he threw my way, were it delivered like this novel. Harusi ya Dogoli is a Kiswahili novel the title translates ‘Dogoli’s Wedding’. 

The novel is really a contemporary historical memoir, born of the author’s strong conviction that he shares in this novel's foreword. “Aidha mwandishi ameamuwa kwa makusudi kuandika mila na destrui za watu wa asili ya ukanda huo kwa vile ndizo alizoona na kusimuliwa na wazee wa ukanda huo.” The foreword goes on to explain how Athumani Mauya (a retired school teacher from Bagamoyo), sees it's imperative to record East African coastal norms & traditions, as they have been eroding drastically due to foreign religions & globalization. 

Set in a village in coastal East Africa in what sounds to be the middle of the 20th century. The pull to keep turning on the pages, comes from the trove of information, history. That Mr. Mauya weaves with a commendable appreciation of the female psyche, as while the novel is about Dogoli a male character. Harusi ya Dogoli is carried strongly by female narratives. “Kungwi akachukuwa majivu ya uvuguvugu na kumpaka Kijakazi sehemu za siri na kumnyonyoa nywele za sehemu za siri kwa vidole vya mikono…’Usilie, kulia mwiko, utakuwa kioja ndiyo ukubwa huo. Kuanzia sasa unatakiwa kunyoa nywele za sehemu zako za siri kila mara na kuwa masfi na pia unaposafisha chini usisahau juu, kwapani.’”  

The plot of this novel is rather straight forward there’s a wedding & a funeral surrounding one family. The quote above shares the experience of the coming of age ceremony for the bride, as she is present in a sacred secret meeting between female elders including her mother. Where she is welcomed into the auspicious status of being a woman, I learned a lot of things while reading this book about rites such as this commonly referred to as ‘ujando’. 

In this novel at times the plot is too slow but thankfully the trivia of background info is a treasure trove of anthropology. You will find nursery rhymes, names of foods, African measurement scales, items no longer in use. Like the ‘sondo’ the equivalent of sanitary pads, for the Swahili coastal women at that time. Just when the dives into history feel too much of a lecture, characters sharing daring conversations will pop up, letting you appreciate all that is street swag from the Swahili folk. “Kwangu kudai talaka ni dakika tu. Si unajua tunaruhusiwa kuoana na kuachana na si kutengana…Kozi mwana mandanda kulala na njaa kupenda; wanaume wamejaa tele ni uamuzi tu…Ukae na mume hadi mfanane sura; loh! Yasini ya mdalasini,” Mama Mashavu aligamba.

From the onset the author does warn the readers that not all of the customs they will encounter in the book are favorable to everyone. Like the above character who is adamant that sleeping with another man’s wife though she is married herself, is ok. In the end it’s for us readers to decide what is well to applaud and what to discard. The reality of the philosophy of a Swahili man who is a feminist, resonates with the penning of this novel by Mr Mauya. His choice to bring women as central characters in this novel, allowing them to voice their struggles in narrations that are so believable, is one strong plus for this novel. Another plus adding to why I’ve called this novel a contemporary historical memoir. Is that in reality the central character isn’t really Dogoli or what happens to Dogoli? Rather the forgotten anthropological song of a people whose home is the cradle of  a key civilization in Africa to date.

Harusi ya Dogoli is published by Mkuki na Nyota publishers in Tanzania and is available to order across the region through this link Mkuki Books going for 8,000Tshs.  It was published in 2018.

n.b. this article was first published in the East African Newspaper on the 18th -24th Dec 2021 publication